Scott Ramsay spent a year doing what most outdoor lovers can only dream about and travelled to 31 of South Africa’s most special nature reserves and national parks. His objective was to photograph South Africa’s last remaining wild places and along the way he interviewed rangers, community leaders, environmental and cultural activists, ecologists, scientists, researchers, travellers and school children. Ramsay completed this journey on 30 June 2012.Ramsay’s adventure was motivated by conservation. While working for Getaway magazine, Southern Africa’s biggest and oldest adventure-travel magazine, he visited many of Africa’s great wilderness areas.

“It confirmed for me what I had always suspected that these are our continent’s greatest assets, and they – along with our people – are our most valuable contribution to the world. The protection and expansion of Africa’s wild places is of utmost importance,” he explains.
On this journey, recently completed, Ramsay photographed wilderness areas and documented the people, places and wildlife.

“If someone can see for themselves how special a wild place can be – whether it’s lying underneath blazing stars in the Kgalagadi, or walking through fields of millions of Namaqua daisies, or walking with Zulu rangers among rhino in Imfolozi, or discovering millennia-old rock art in the Drakensberg or Cederberg, or standing atop Mapungubwe Hill on the Limpopo River, or jumping off waterfalls in Mkambati on the Wild Coast…if they can see for themselves, then these places have a better chance of being conserved, and the local communities can enjoy their benefits,” he says.

Ramsay will share his experiences with us in two talks in October – one in Cape Town and one in Jo’burg at the Cape Union Mart Adventure Centres at Canal Walk and Eastgate respectively. The talsk are free of charge but booking is essential as seating is limited. Visit www.capeunionmart.co.za/events to reserve your place. Drinks and snacks are served afterwards and there’s discounted shopping on the night.